


I Will Always Take Care of You My Dear

by Janky_Zipper



Category: Fran Bow - Fandom
Genre: Bombing, Sad Ending, The Blitz, War, World War II
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-31
Updated: 2020-04-27
Packaged: 2021-02-25 09:54:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22494136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Janky_Zipper/pseuds/Janky_Zipper
Summary: Fran Bow AU set 5 years before the cannon game and in Britain.Trying to get her to the safety of the countryside a young, and at this point unnamed, Itward cares for the six year old Fran as he carries her through the war torn cities.
Comments: 13
Kudos: 16





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [I Will Always Take Care of You My Dear|Перевод](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22843882) by [CerezaHelada](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CerezaHelada/pseuds/CerezaHelada)



> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
> Hello~
> 
> If you feel you've seen this story before don't worry, all postings are by the same author. Ive posted this on Tumblr and Wattpad but it wasn't gaining a lot of traction so I put it here too.  
> Commets and grammar corrections are always appreciated.  
> Thank you~  
> ~Yours Truely  
> ~~Janky  
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Prologue~~  
The year is 1940, the place Great Britain. The air is cold and damp but that's the least of the citizens worries. Sirens blair but they can hardly be heard over the sounds of explosions. The streets are flooded with people, most run toward local Anderson shelters, one pair of feet however, run in the opposite direction.  
A tall lanky creature of about seven feet stoped in front of an almost completely demolished apartment complex. With seemingly no effort it hoisted itself over the smoldering rubble and began to silently sift through the content of each room. Dispite the layer of ash and dust on the ground this particular personage left no footprints behind as it shoved various pieces of debris into a bag slug over its jagged shoulder. It ducked into a new unit for the doorways in this building were far to short for it. The creature caught its own ghoulish reflection in a shattered hanging mirrior, and absent mindedly waved to itself. It looked somewhat human but the lack of flesh was rather confusing. Its eyes gave off a faint amber light and had oblong pupils similar to a cat's.  
The skeletal form straightened up amd brushed off its ill fitting clothes, completely oblivious to the chaos around it. It then pulled out a pocket watch that had become detatched from its chain.  
" Blast! Its already 2:15", it said out loud returning to its regular slumped posture.  
" H-hello? Is anyone there?"  
This voice starttled the creature and made it turn around.  
"P-please! I need help I'm stuck!"  
It ran towards the bookshelf where the voice seemed to be coming from, banging its skull on a celing beam in the prosses. Underneath the shelf was a small girl trembling with her knees to her chest.  
" T-thank you Sir," she began to say, but the creature scooped her up before she could finish.


	2. Chapter 1

Two peculiar friends walked along the outskirts of a sleepy town chatting and laughing.  
Where are you taking me mister?", Fran asked as her lanky companion lifted her a fallen log and held her hand to steady her as she walked along it.   
" I'm taking you you to the countryside Fran, you'll be safe from the bombing there."   
" Oh, my friend Phil's mother took him to the countryside. Do you think I will see him there?"  
" Maybe my friend, maybe.", he chuckled. He spoke with a warm tone, that was rather strange considering his appearance.   
" Fran!" , he snapped suddenly grabbing her shoulder. " Someone's coming!"  
Fran hopped off the log and hid under the creature's coat train. The coat was unbelievably long to fit its tall wearer, the bottom length was completely made of patches that fully covered Fran from her head to her feet. The skeleton calmly checked his pocket watch as the stranger passed without looking or talking to them.  
" He's gone now Fran", the skeleton said and made an audible " Whoosh" as he dramatically uncovered her.  
"Tada!", she yelled throwing her hands in the air.  
"Are you a magician today Fran?", he asked clapping his hands at her little trick.  
"Yes!", she sang. " I am Fran the world's best-est and youngest magician, and this is Mr. Skeleton. The world's greatest magician's assistant!"  
He bowed with a flourish. Fran's juvenile humour always gave him a laugh, even if her grammar was lacking.   
They played as they walked, closed off in their own little world. Eventually Fran started pelting her skeletal friend with questions.  
"Mr. Skeleton?"  
"Yes Fran."  
"Why don't you wear shoes?"  
"You see my dear, my feet are very large and it is very hard to find shoes that fit. So I don't wear any."   
"Oh... that makes sense I guess. Do your feet ever get cold?"   
"No, I don't have any flesh to feel the cold with."   
"But if you can't feel the cold then why do you where clothes?"  
"Well... I suppose I felt a bit wacky walking around without any clothes when everyone else wears them. However hardly anyone can see me. It sounds quite silly now that I say it out loud."  
She giggled, " I would feel silly walking around naked too! It's getting late, where will we be sleeping?"  
"There is an abandoned house past the next bend," he was very grateful that the subject had changed.  
"I haven't slept in a house in a very long time."  
There was a hint of sadness in her voice. He had come to the conclusion that her parents had perished, he had a suspicion that she thought so too. However he lacked the heart to talk to her about it. lacking a circulatory system he also had no heart to pump blood, but that didn't change the fact that he felt sorry for Fran. It disgusted him that so many undeserving children had to go through such terrible things.   
While he was lost in thought Fran had ran past the path that led to the house.  
"Come back my darling! You are going the wrong direction!"  
"Yes Mr. Skeleton!"  
As they drew nearer to their destination Fran finished telling her companion a story about her cat, Mr. Midnight. The story was clearly exaggerated, just the imaginative ramblings of a young child.   
"Well then my dear, here we are!"  
Exited to once again enjoy the luxuries of a house she darted forward and tried to open the old wooden door.   
"Over here Fran! The door is jammed, we have to go in through the window."   
"Oh," she whispered, while being gingerly lowered through shards of broken glass by a pair of cold but friendly hands.   
The girl who had been so excited to explore her new surroundings was now curled up on a sofa next to a smoldering fire. Her guardian softly covered her in his coat and sat on an old dusty chair across the room. Having no body and no need to sleep the creature sat in silence, sewing.


	3. Chapter 2

. A frigid wind roared through the small town, carrying old wrappers and loose tobacco in a brown melancholy parade. The rising sun brought some warmth but not nearly enough to melt the thick blanket of frost that made the pavers glisten. The tall being briskly jogged through the streets occasionally stopping to peek into a window or rummage through some bins. Eventually he made his way to an alley behind a bakery, as he stuffed rolls into his pockets he tuned into a conversation two men were having across the street. 

" Did you tune in this morning Algy?"   
" Can't. Wife says it scares the children."  
" How are the little poppets doing then?" 

He sighed, he used to love hearing about people's domestic lives. Little ones going off to school, young men falling in love and moving away to live with their sweethearts, but ever since the war started things had become somber. Children trembling in their beds with fear, afraid the might have bombs dropped on their heads. Young men didn't fall in love anymore, they went off to get shot at.   
The men's conversation pulled him from his thoughts. 

" What did the radio man say then?"   
" Algy you're never going to believe this!   
" Broadcasters say that the Germans are going to come at us with nerve gas!"   
" What in God's name is that?"  
" I haven't the slightest, but if those bastards came up with it it can't be good." 

The creature paused. Nerve gas? What was that? Does it hurt? Wasn't that the stuff that makes the stoves in all the houses work?   
The ticking of his pocket watch brought him back to reality, he looked at it. It was almost six, Fran would be up any second! He gently put the lid back on the bin and sped off toward the old abandoned house. 

The sun beamed down through the barren tree tops and gathered on the floor, illuminating the particles of dust as they waltzed with each other. The lanky being was hunched over, awkwardly contouring his massive frame to fit through the window without further breaking the glass.   
Having finished his less than graceful descent he dusted off the decrepit old table and placed the stolen bread upon it. Flinging crumbs from his trouser pockets in the process. 

The silence was broken by a soft whimper coming from the armchair near the fireplace. He quickly half leaped over to a dusty sofa and lay upon it in a painfully exaggerated sleeping position. 

" Good morning Mr. Skeleton!", Fran said yawning and stretching out her arms. 

He sat up and mimicked her stretching,causing a cacophony of cracking noises.   
She rubbed her eyes.  
" How did you sleep?"   
" I slept fine my dear. Just fine."


	4. Chapter3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello sorry this took so long, I've gotten back into the habit of writing so new chapters should be updated more frequently.

They had spent the morning in the house, little Fran needed rest and the rain that had started pouring would make their travel difficult.  
“ Fran, be careful if you play please. I don’t know if there's anything dangerous about.”  
“ Are you leaving me?” , she looked back at him from the window. She almost looked natural in this setting.  
“ No Fran I'm not leaving. I'm just going to poke around and see if there's anything we could use in here.”  
“ Can I come with you?”  
“ You may, but it might be boring.”  
She giggled and hopped out of her chair and waddled with an ear to ear grin, following her tall friend as he combed through the disheveled building. He pushed aside a few rusted empty cans and found a pocket knife that might come in handy. Fran’s attention span soon faded and she started drawing in the dust in the floor, clearly not amused with the junk littered around.  
“I'll just be in the other room Fran”  
Still doodling she muttered a vague response.  
Ducking through the door way and almost hitting his head on the sagging ceiling that had become heavy under the rain. A bed caught his eye, he almost sat down upon it but decided not to. The sheets were littered with evidence that local young couples must be fond of this spot.  
“ Don't come in here Fran, there's broken glass everywhere”, he didn't want to have to answer any biology questions she might get if she came in. Mostly because he wasn't entirely sure of the answers.  
He turned to the corner and found an upturned baby bassinet filled with empty liquor bottles and magazines he found rather … unsavory to say the least. Good thing Fran was still in the living room. The blanket crumpled beneath the garbage intrigued him, pink with white animals on it. The animals were familiar but he couldn't quite place where he had previously seen them. He touched the fabric, worn but still soft, he traced the pattern with his thumb. Carefully tracing the long ears on the creatures.Where had he seen them before? Forgetting the knife he brought the blanket up to his teeth and tore off a piece that wasn't overly soiled and stuffed it in his pocket.  
The rain slowed as he finished the last room in the house, he hadn’t found anything too useful. Fran was sitting on the couch kicking her feet as she stood holding something in her lap. He walked behind the couch to see what she was looking at. Fran was holding a framed photograph that must have fallen off the mantle.  
“ Look!”, she said pointing,“ A mummy, a daddy and a baby!”  
“ They must have lived here at some point.”  
They both studied the photo. The woman had paler skin than the man, that might explain the scorch marks on the walls and what used to be the drapes. Humans were so picky about which ones could spend time with one another. He never understood that.  
“Where's your mummy and baby?”she asked gleaming up at him.  
“ I don’t have anyone”, he said surprised at the thought.  
“ You need one. Tall people always have babies.”  
If he had lips he'd be smiling, he could however feel his gase soften. He always felt like that when she spoke, it was so nice to hear someone speak nicely nowadays.  
“ Welp Fran, the rain stopped. Get your shoes on, we best be on our way.”  
“ Can we take the family with us? “  
“ No better the picture here in case they come back.”  
She kissed each face before handing it to him to put back above the fireplace, then hurriedly squished her feet into her shoes without unbuckling them.  
“ Alright Miss Fran up we go '' he eased her through the open window with one hand and gently placed her on the ground. 

Despite the muddy ground the afternoon was quite nice, the rain had cleared the air and everything was still and peaceful. It was rather warm and sunny too, Fran had taken off her coat and wrapped it around a piece of tree bark. She was playing family as they walked, she sang to the bundle and rocked it back and forth in her small arms. He was happy the picture hadn’t upset her, losing her own family probably hadn’t sunk in yet and he didn't want to force it. He thought about families a lot, they seemed nice, but he didn't remember having one. He didn't remember much of anything really. 

His earliest memory was just being. Just sitting up one day and existing, he might have been beneath a tree but he wasn’t sure. He also remembered walking, walking through snow, rain,sun, he walked for a long time. He wondered where he had learned to walk, it seemed to be one of the few things he knew for sure. He could walk. The only other thing he was sure of was that he was confused. At least that was something. His confusion didn’t stop once his walking did, and his walking had only stopped because he walked into something. Ithersta. At least that was what King Zair said that place was called. Zair that futty dutty old stump, he missed him. Zair was probably the closest thing to a father or a friend he'd ever get. His few happy memories came from sitting with Zair in the library learning to count from those books about… Rabbits! That's what those long eared animals from the blanket were, they were rabbits! Now he was sure of three things, he was confused, he could walk and he liked rabbits.


End file.
